Wayne State College proudly announces the inauguration of President Curt Frye. Frye, former vice president and dean of students at Wayne State, was named the 12th president of Wayne State College on June 2 by the Nebraska State College System Board of Trustees. The ceremony will be at 3 p.m. Oct. 6 in Ramsey Theatre, Peterson Fine Arts Building, on the WSC campus. A public reception will follow the ceremony.

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The inauguration will feature remarks by Nebraska Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy, Nebraska State College System Chancellor Stan Carpenter, Wayne Mayor Ken Chamberlain, Wayne State Foundation Board of Trustees President Bill Dickey, Dr. Marshall Hill, Executive Director of the Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education in Nebraska, Wayne State College Student Senate President Joe Whitt, Wayne State College Support Staff Senate Chair Diane Pieper, Wayne State College Professional Staff Senate Chair Lindsay McLaughlin, and Wayne State College Faculty Senate Chair Dr. Mark Leeper. Katelyn Olenich of Norfolk, the Wayne State student trustee for the Nebraska State College System, will deliver the invocation and benediction. Carter “Cap” Peterson of Wayne, chair of the Nebraska State College System Board of Trustees, will conduct the investiture of Frye as president.

Keynote remarks will be delivered by Regg Swanson, a 1975 WSC graduate and trustee of the Wayne State Foundation. Swanson earned his graduate degree from the University of Oregon. While serving as Wayne State's athletic trainer, he developed the first athletic training center. He has served with the U.S. Olympic teams in South Korea in 1988 and Atlanta in 1996. Swanson funded a 4,000-square-foot center to provide state-of-the-art physical therapy and athletic training at WSC in 2005.

The college is honoring Frye's inauguration with a campus service initiative aimed at underscoring the importance of gratitude. Students, staff, faculty, alumni and friends were encouraged to send a handwritten note of thanks to those people in their lives that have made a difference for them, whether large or small. The project includes gatherings on Sept. 14 and Sept. 29 to hand write notes and an outreach effort for alumni and friends through the social networking platform Facebook. So far, more than 500 notes of gratitude have been submitted from students, faculty and staff.

Frye had retired from Wayne State on June 30, 2009, but returned to serve as interim president upon the 2010 resignation of former President Richard Collings. Frye began working at Wayne State in 1985, serving as associate dean of students, dean of students, and in 1993 was named vice president and dean of students. Frye served as interim president from 2003 to 2004 after the resignation of Dr. Sheila Stearns.

Prior to coming to Wayne State, Frye was a teacher and coach at Cody/Kilgore and a guidance counselor in Neligh and Wayne. A native of Elk City, Frye holds a bachelor of science in education from Midland Lutheran College in Fremont and a master of science in education from Chadron State College.

Frye has served the community of Wayne for many years as a member of Kiwanis, president of the Wayne Area Economic Development Board, and is a member of Our Savior Lutheran Church.